Fever 1793 opens with 14 year old Mattie waking up, wanting desperately to roll back over and go to sleep instead of getting up to help in the coffee shop her mother owns. It’s easy for a modern reader to identify with her. She has a crush on a boy her mother doesn’t quite approve […]
Catching Fire
March 29, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Catching Fire is the sequel to The Hunger Games. It continues pretty much where the last book left off, and having survived the Hunger Games hasn’t actually solved any of Katniss’ problems. She needs to set off on the victory tour—the publicity stunt the government uses to keep the Hunger Games fresh in everyone’s mind. […]
Aurelia
March 29, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Aurelia feels like a logical stepping stone between the princess stories of Gail Carson Levine and adult novels of romance and intrigue. In many ways, Aurelia is a typical princess from stories like this—she chafes against authority, she thinks she’s less beautiful than her golden younger sister, the common people love her, and she’s smarter […]
The Phantom Tollbooth
March 28, 2012 by Leave a Comment
I remember loving The Phantom Tollbooth as a child and I was pleasantly surprised by how well it held up. I read it out loud to my kids, which allowed me to explain some of the jokes and the overall metaphorical plot (why words and numbers require rhyme and reason to reach their full potential). […]
My Life as a Book
March 22, 2012 by Leave a Comment
My Life as a Book, about the summer of a 12 year old self-described “reluctant reader,” is written in a way obviously intended to appeal to reluctant readers. The Comic Sans font resembles hand printing and the book has large margins—this prevents the “wall of text” effect and also leaves ample room for the stick […]
The Season
March 21, 2012 by 2 Comments
Set in Regency England (the season of 1815, to be exact), The Season follows the first few months of the social debuts of Alex Stafford and her best friends, Ella and Vivi. In addition to the social pitfalls inherent to their status, there’s also a murder, spies, and romance. The story is full of the […]
The Penderwicks
March 16, 2012 by Leave a Comment
The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy is a sweet story about the adventures of the four Penderwick sisters—Rosalind, age 12; Skye, age 11; Jane, age 10; Batty, age 4—during their three weeks renting a summer house in the Berkshire Mountains with their father and Hound the […]
The Hunger Games
March 10, 2012 by 5 Comments
What a compelling, tension-filled, brutal, and difficult read. The Hunger Games is the kind of book that you have to read as quickly as possible because it occupies part of your brain even when you aren’t reading—it sat there in my mind like a reminder of something urgent that I needed to be doing. I’m […]
A List of Series for Younger or Reluctant Readers
March 10, 2012 by 4 Comments
The Princess in Black by Shannon Hale and Dean Hale – basically princess as superhero, also featuring goat boy as superhero. Full of cute and colorful illustrations, it’s a great chapter book series for new or reluctant readers. The first book is reviewed in more detail on this site. The Adventurers Guild by Zack Loran […]
Only You Can Save Mankind
February 29, 2012 by Leave a Comment
I was excited when my son brought home a Terry Pratchett book on his own, and he really did give it a good shot (a rarity for my son who tends to make a decision about a book before he’s done with the first page), but it turns out Only You Can Save Mankind is both […]
